Three Hours
by Katanai
Summary: Love. It isn’t something that you can hold or touch, but you can feel it. Love is bittersweet. Still, if you love someone, you have to let them go. Hyuuga Hinata's love is put to the ultamite test in "Three Days." Written By Katanai.


"Three hours," the pink-haired girl said as she took a sip out of the nicely crafted cup she had been holding. The two girls accompanying her to lunch both had different reactions to these two words. The blond to her right shrugged indifferently. The other girl, however, the one sitting to her left, took on a completely different expression. Her look changed from serene, yet interested, to worried and anxious.

"H-How long will he be gone for?" she managed to spit out after a few deep breaths.

"Two and a half years or so," replied Sakura with a light, yet serious, tone. "I'll miss the idiot," she then added with a sigh. Sakura. She had such little appreciation for him, yet, she was so close to him. Hinata envied her. She envied her so much. Still, she would never say so. She would hardly admit it to herself.

"Crap! Sakura, we have to go. Tsunade-sama'll flip if we're late," pointed out Yamanaka Ino as she looked at the time.

"Shit. You're right," responded a semi-nervous Sakura. She woofed down her final piece of dango and chugged down the remainder of tea in her. Ino, on one of her extreme diets once more, simply sipped down the last of her tea, carefully placing the ceramic cup on the table in front of her.

"See ya, Hina-chan," Ino called out.

"Yeah! Bye, Hinata! See you later," Sakura soon responded, both girls waving at the girl still seated at the table.

The Hyuuga heiress looked down into the tea she had been drinking. A single tear rolled down from her pupil-less eyes and fell into the tea, causing the liquid to ripple. She looked at her own reflection in the blackish brown tea before drinking down the last drop of it. She soon left the café that they had been eating in and began to walk down the streets of Konoha.

Three hours. That's how long she had. Naruto-kun was leaving on a long journey, and he would be heading out in three hours. She ran home, upset and nearly in tears. There, she saw Neji. Of course, he stopped her to train. That was how the two had been interacting lately. They would often spar. Neji was good for getting pointers on how to become stronger. That was what she wanted, after all. She had to keep up with everyone. With Naruto-kun.

After pinning an out of breath Hinata against the wall, Neji pointed out that Naruto would be leaving soon. Hinata instantly dashed off. Her heart pounding, she ran to the on place she knew that he would be--Ichiraku. She saw him leaving with Jiraiya. Standing behind a pole, she her love walk away from the village. That was the last time she would see him for two and a half years.

Her heart aching, she promised herself that she would train hard to keep up with him. Still, deeper down, she was hurting quite a bit. She had the right to. The love of her life had just walked away. She wouldn't see him for Only Kami-sama knew how long. She walked dejectedly down the streets.

The girl stopped dead in her tracks when she realized something--she had been too shy to even say goodbye. At this realization, Hinata began to run. She ran until she made it to a back street in town. There, she sat down, clutched her knees to her chest and began to cry. Sobbing wholeheartedly, she stayed like this for quite some time.

When she looked up through her tear-stained eyes, she realized that it was now getting dark. She still sat there on the ground, however, not wanting to move. Her heart ached. Naruto was gone and she hadn't even said goodbye. She hated herself at the moment for it, too. Then, she had a thought. This thought caused her to stand up slowly and wipe the tears from her eyes.

If something like this were to happen to Naruto-kun, he wouldn't just sit and cry about it. He would do something. He would improve himself instead of crying over heartache. When Sasuke had left, Naruto worked even harder, training and improving himself to try to get him back someday.

She clenched her fists and dusted off the back of her pants. She then began to march back to the Hyuuga Compound, head held high. She was to improve herself. She would try to overcome her shy ways. She would make herself better so that Naruto-kun would notice her. She would train so that she would be of comparable strength to him. She would push herself to the limit.

_A wise person once said, "If you love someone you have to let them go." Hinata now knew that this was exactly the case. This was the way of the world. This was how it was to be. This is how she was to be. _

"_Naruto-kun… _

_I will improve myself…_

_And when you get back…_

_You __**will **__notice me…"_


End file.
